Sponsored Links

Ford Announces Two New Electrified Vehicles For China, With More On The Way

Sponsored Links

Ford today announced that it plans to introduce two new electrified vehicles to the Chinese market by 2020, with many more to follow before 2026.

The first of these will be a Ford Mondeo (a.k.a. “Fusion”) Energi plug-in hybrid, due out in early-2018 with local production by Ford’s joint venture with Changan Automobile. Changan Ford already sells the Mondeo Hybrid in that market, having launched the model in November of 2016.

The second new electrified vehicle will be the same small, battery-electric crossover planned for North America and Europe, due out by 2020. Ford is anticipating a range greater than 450 kilometers (280 miles).

Following those two electrified models to the Chinese market will be a broad range of fuel-efficient, battery-toting vehicles by 2025, says Ford. The automaker anticipates that by that time, fully 70% of its nameplates will be offered with an electrified drivetrain (or two), including every model produced locally by Changan Ford. By 2020, the Chinese joint venture will be producing its own electrified drivetrains domestically, and Ford will start entrusting more “new-energy vehicle” engineering tasks to its Nanjing Research and Engineering Center.

“The time is right for Ford to expand our EV lineup and investments in China,” says Ford President and CEO Mark Fields. “We are prioritizing our electrification efforts on China to reflect its importance as a global electrified vehicle market and to make lives better, simpler and more cost effective for Chinese consumers.”

Fields will share still more details of Changan Ford’s electrification strategy for the Chinese market at a special event in Shanghai, April 8th. China is the world’s biggest market for new-energy vehicles; according to the SAE, electrified vehicles will account for more than 15 percent of passenger vehicle sales in the country by 2025.

Sponsored Links

— Aaron Brzozowski

Aaron Brzozowski is a writer and motoring enthusiast from Detroit with an affinity for '80s German steel. He is not active on the Twitter these days, but you may send him a courier pigeon.